News

Special Thanks to Everyone Involved with The Virtual Piano Pedagogue series!

February 14, 2024

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the success and completion of The Virtual Piano Pedagogue series. You are so appreciated! We have created more than ten hours of videos on topics such as Phrasing, Beethoven, Schumann, Debussy, Scarlatti, Prokofiev, Chopin, and Russian music. There are also 15 Performance videos.

Thank you: Pianists Dean Kramer, Anton Nel, and Alexander Tutunov; Videographers/editors Kelly McCoy, Dave Schwep, Evangeline LaRoque, Daniel Odegaard, and Nathan Ahn; Recording engineers Bill Barnett, Sean McCoy, Michael McDonald, and Don Ross; Artist Svetlana Tutunov; Piano tuners Alan Phillips, Mike Reiter, Tom Lowell and Ron Ochs; Lighting, makeup, and production assistants. Thank you all!

Special thanks and my sincere gratitude to those who donated in-kind services to complete these projects: Mark Findlay of Sage Computer Services in Seattle; Southern Oregon University; The University of Oregon; The Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene; The Wildish Theater in Springfield; and The University of Oregon Foundation, among many others.

Finally, my sincere thanks to The Oregon Community Foundation for their incredible support from 2014 - 2023. Thank you for your patience with all of the delays associated with getting us through the pandemic and completing these video and performance projects.

Oregon Community Foundation Renews Grant from the Nellie Tholen Fund for 2018-2019

July 21, 2018

Great news! The Oregon Community Foundation has renewed my grant from the Nellie Tholen Fund for 2018-2019. I will be adding three new videos for The Virtual Piano Master Course, Part 2. Several outstanding pianists/teachers will be joining me for this new series. I will send an announcement as each new video becomes available. Stay tuned!

New Arrival: The Imagination of Robert Schumann

December 22, 2017

The third topic and newest addition to The Virtual Piano Master Course is "The Imagination of Robert Schumann.” In this six-video series, I explore and demonstrate the fascinating inner connections between Schumann's life and his compositions - what I call the "biography" of Schumann's music. There are over 95 musical examples and more than 150 visual images, including scores, with excerpts from the following works: “Abegg" Variations, Papillons, Carnaval, Scenes of Childhood, Kreisleriana, Album for the Young, Forest Scenes, and the great Fantasy in C.

New Video Series: The Power of Beethoven

July 11, 2017

The second topic of the The Virtual Piano Master Course, “The Power of Beethoven” featuring Dr. Dean Kramer as pianist and presenter, was uploaded to both the YouTube channel and The Virtual Piano Pedagogue website in July 2017. In this four-video series, Dr. Kramer illuminates Beethoven's music with fascinating commentary and masterful playing. These videos will inspire pianists to achieve a deeper level of understanding in their interpretation and performance of Beethoven's great solo piano sonatas. Topics are The Beethoven Persona, Sonata Op. 49, No. 1; Sonata Op. 79; and Sonata Op. 2, No. 1.

Oregon Community Foundation Renews Grant from The Nellie Tholen Fund for 2016-2017

Great news! The Oregon Community Foundation has renewed my grant from The Nellie Tholen Fund for 2016-2017. I will be adding three new videos for the next series, The Virtual Piano Master Course. Several outstanding pianists/teachers will be joining me for this new series. I will send an announcement as each new video becomes available. Stay tuned!

New Video Series: The Secrets of Russian Piano Playing

March 14, 2017

I am pleased to announce my new video series, The Virtual Piano Master Course. The first topic, "The Secrets of Russian Piano Playing," features Dr. Alexander Tutunov as narrator, presenter and performer. In these videos, Dr. Tutunov, Professor of Piano at Southern Oregon University, shares his impressive knowledge of the Russian piano tradition. Each video also includes a short introduction to the composer’s life and music. I know that you will find these "secrets" extremely valuable in your own playing and teaching. Many thanks to all those who contributed to the success of these videos: Dean Kramer from Eugene, Oregon; Kelly McCoy from Los Angeles, California; Sean McCoy, Svetlana Tutunov, and Tom Lowell from Ashland, Oregon; — and of course, Dr. Alexander Tutunov.

OMTA State Conference

June 19, 2015

I’m looking forward to presenting the official launch of The Virtual Piano Pedagogue website and videos at the Oregon Music Teachers Association state conference at The Resort of the Mountain in Welches, Oregon on Sunday June 21. It’s hard to believe that this project has become a reality after almost two years. Without the support of so many OMTA teachers and the Oregon Community Foundation this project would never have succeeded. I will present highlights from the more than three hours of video but the beauty of The Virtual Piano Pedagogue is that it will be there for everyone to watch whenever they wish!

Central Oregon OMTA District in Bend

April 3, 2015

I always enjoy seeing my piano friends from the Central Oregon OMTA district in Bend. My presentation was about Schumann’s Album for the Young as well as The Virtual Piano Pedagogue video series. Thank you to Kathy Gault and Margaret Littlehales! After my presentation we had lunch in a restaurant that had a live tree growing in it! Awesome! (I hope the restaurant saved our magnificent tablecloth crayon drawings…)

Linn-Benton OMTA District in Corvallis

January 20, 2015

I presented The Virtual Piano Pedagogue videos to the Linn-Benton OMTA district in Corvallis. I enjoyed visiting with so many teachers in Corvallis. My presentation included The Art of the Phrase and selections from The Essence of Chopin. Before my presentation Stella Meinzer (President) performed several piano works by my dear friend Luis Jorge González, Professor Emeritus from the University of Colorado. This brought back many wonderful memories from my student days at Peabody where I premiered Luis’s piano works. I have since been in touch with Luis via email.

Eugene District OMTA

January 12, 2015

This was a wonderful opportunity to speak about The Virtual Piano Pedagogue series to my local OMTA district in Eugene. Such great teachers and friends! My presentation included The Art of the Phrase and selections from The Essence of Chopin videos. I was very happy to see so many graduate piano students in attendance from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. They especially seemed to enjoy the Edgar, the Raven from the Art of Phrase and the Essence of Chopin video of pianist Dean Kramer being swarmed by all of Chopin’s expressive terms - a must-see!